Tinkers To Evers To Blog

Friday, April 2, 2010

Moving on to the AL Central, just a few weeks ago, I thought that this division would belong to the Twins without any question, the Joe Nathan injury has brought some doubt to the division, however. I'm interested to see what the new home park does for the Twins as well.

Speaking of injuries to closers, Kerry Wood could be out for a while as well which doesn't bode well for the Indians, and he was one of the few good players on Cleveland.

Kansas City is still Kansas City, so the big question there might be which of the two, KC and Cleveland, end up at the bottom of the division.

Detroit has the makings of a good team, but they haven't been able to do anything since their meltdown in the World Series a few seasons ago. With some questions in the Minnisota bullpen, however, Detroit should definitely be in the running for the division.

Chicago has a pretty decent team as well, and will have Peavy for a full season to top their rotation. They have some pretty good young bats and should also compete throughout the year for the division crown.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

The AL East, much like the AL West should be an intriguing division, because, like the AL West, there are three teams that have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs.

As has been the case for some time now, I think that two teams will make the playoffs from this division, so once again, a worthy team will be left out, the question is will it be the Rays, the Red Sox, or the Yankees.

I think the Rays are going to have another phenomenal season like the one that they had a couple of seasons ago which propelled them to the World Series.

The Red Sox could have the best rotation in the American League but their offense is fairly suspect.

The Yankees will have another very good offensive team and fairly good pitching.

Ultimately, I think the Yankees will be the team that gets left out, primarily because they won't be as hungry this year, and their pitching staff is an injury away from being terrible.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

It is getting to be that time, Opening Day is on Sunday, also known by many as Easter, featuring the Yankees and the Red Sox, and the majority of the rest of baseball will get going on Monday!

I will be at The Ballpark in Arlington for the Texas Rangers against the Toronto Blue Jays, making it the second consecutive year that I will be seeing Blue Jays baseball in opening week, and it will feature a return to Rangers opening day baseball, a tradition that I have only missed twice since the new Ballpark opened (and one of those times was last year when the Cubbies were in Houston, so I was there instead).

So, with baseball literally upon us, let's begin our previews and predictions starting with the AL West, the divisional home of the Texas Rangers.

The Angels have won this division going away for a number of years now, but due to losing a number of their offensive players as well as John Lackey coupled with the vast improvement over the last couple of seasons of the Rangers and the offseason improvement of the Seattle Mariners, I think that this is the season when the Angels finally reliquish control of the West.

I also think that this division will be the most exciting to watch in all of baseball, with it being at least a three team race, and possibly a race involving all four teams, throughout the majority of the season.

The Rangers offense won't struggle as much as it did at times last year, however, it also won't be the potent force that it has been in years past, however, the pitching for the Rangers looks to be a strong suit as young pitchers began to make some names for themselves and propell the Rangers into their first division title since (party like its) 1999.

The Mariners will finish 3 games behind the Rangers followed very closely by the Angels and the A's will finish within 7 games.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

For the most part this season, I have been optimistic. After losing 15-6 to the Nationals last night, however, even I have to admit the difficulty of optimism.

So why is this season so disappointing?

There are a few reasons, this season has been a perfect storm of misery.

Like 2004, there have been a ridiculous amount of injuries. The opening day lineup has only been used twice all season. The starting rotation at the beginning of the season has all spent time on the DL with the exception of Sean Marshall, who is now in the bullpen.

Secondly, a huge number of the team is not meeting their normal numbers offensively. Bradley, Soriano, and Soto primarily. These are players (with the possible exception of Soto who is only in his second year) that you have an expectation of what they will give you offensively, so when they don't, it puts a huge whole in the offensive numbers you were expecting with your team.

Finally, the unbelievable ineptitude of the bullpen, especially the failure that is the Kevin Gregg experiment (and I can not stress enough how much I hate, hate, hate Kevin Gregg as a baseball player, I can't speculate on my feelings of him as a person, but as a baseball player, pure hatred), has blown a number of games that were not only winnable, but were practically won.

Things are certainly bad right now, and chances are very close to non-existent when it comes to a playoff run, but the fact remains that if this team starts playing to its potential, there is still a chance for a run. Unfortunately, for that run to take place, nearly everything has to go right for the Cubs as well as go wrong for some of the teams ahead of them, which as the season's remaining games dwindle, becomes less and less likely.

Despite the poor chances of the Cubs making the playoffs this season, I will continue to devote what time I can to watching them and even when I can't watch the games, making sure I am aware of the results. That is just who I am as a Cubs fan, and if it turns out that we are unable to manufacture a miracle this season, then I guess I will have to fall back on that ever popular saying amongst us Chicago Cub faithful, "There's always next year."

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

After two long, long days without any Cubs baseball, the Cubbies return to action tonight against the Cincinatti Reds at 7:05 CST. It feels like it has been forever. Hopefully the couple of days off will have helped the slight injuries that the team has suffered over the first two weeks. Also, the bullpen has certainly needed the rest as they have been getting a lot of work of late, although not doing a great job in the process.

Still, entering week three of the season, the Cubs are in first place in the division.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Baseball is in full swing now, nearly two full weeks in the books. I went to four games opening week, Opening day and the second game of Cubs verses Astros in Houston and then was at Detroit at Toronto on Wednesday (although for only 1 and a half innings as my flight was massively delayed) and Thursday, so it was mucho beisbol for me last week. This week all of my baseball viewing has been on the television (or more likely on my computer screen via MLB.tv)

Here are some of the things I've noticed so far...

Carlos Marmol should be closing for the Cubbies and not Kevin Gregg. Marmol has been spectacular, while Gregg has blown 2 saves and been the culprit in a late inning loss when he came in with the game tied. In the two games Marmol has come in with a save opportunity, however, the Cubs have gotten the win without giving up so much as a run. In Gregg's only save, he nearly blew a three run lead. Time to make the switch, Lou.

It is amazing how unique things happen in baseball to this day. Rich Harden went only three innings in his last start, but struck out 8 of the 9 outs and the only out that wasn't a strike out was on a baserunning play. That means that 0 of the outs for Harden's three innings of work he didn't get a single out on a batted ball. No ground outs, fly outs, line outs, pop outs, or fly outs. That has never happened since at least 1954 for an outing of at least 3 innings. Ian Kinsler the other day hit for the cycle, which is rare in and of itself, but he did it in a game that he went 6 for 6 in. The last time someone had a perfect day with that many hits and hit for the cycle? 1894. Despite the fact that there are 30 teams that play this game at least 162 times a year, there are still things happening that are at the very least rare, and occasionally completely unique.

You really don't want to be my AL preseason World Series pick. Last year I picked the Tigers, they then started 0-7. This year I picked the Indians who promptly went 0-5 and lost 7 of their first 8.

Finally, I want to tell a little story about my return from Toronto. As my plane was arriving back into DFW, the cloud cover was 100%. You couldn't see anything but clouds. Then, as we began to descend towards them one little spot opened up perfectly framing a baseball field. It was awesome. After we emerged from the clouds, the first thing that caught my eye on the ground was another baseball field. The Baseball season is here and I am so glad.

The Houston Skyline from Minute Maid as the sun is going down.

Alfonso Soriano up to bat

New Cub Milton Bradley in the field

Rogers Center, home of the Toronto Blue Jays, from outside

Rogers Center, home of the Toronto Blue Jays after beating the Tigers 6-2

The Cubs have won the division each of the last two seasons, and this Cubs team is again favored by most everyone to do so again. The Cubs rotation is not only clearly the best in the Central but is arguably the best in the entire major leagues to go along with a great offense that is now even more balanced. The Brewers provided the most competition each of the last two seasons, but they no longer have CC Sabathia or Ben Sheets and their pitching is now a huge question mark. They still have a potent offense, but the pitching, both starting and relief will make them take a huge step back. St. Louis has somehow with spit and tape stayed competitive the last few seasons, but has been able to really compete at the end of the season. I don't expect much to change for them this year either. Houston seems to be two different teams each year. Among the leagues worst in the first half and a very competitive club in the second. If they hope to have any chance at anything this year, they need to come out of the gate much faster then they have in the last couple of years. Cincinnati looks to be a young and exciting team. They have great young pitching and very talented young position players. They could be this year's surprise contender. The Pirates are, as always, the Pirates.